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Sun Devil Trio Earns All-America Honors From Baseball America

DURHAM, N.C. — Three Arizona State players have earned All-America honors from Baseball America, the organization announced today. Juniors Jason Kipnis and Mike Leake earned first team accolades, while junior Josh Spence was selected to the third team.

San Diego State's Stephen Strasburg was named the 2009 Baseball America Player of the Year and North Carolina first baseman Dustin Ackley lead a group of five repeat members of Baseball America's College All-America team, a year after eight players repeated on the team. Ackley, who earned third-team honors each of the last two years, becomes the first three-time All-American since Florida State's Stephen Drew (2002-04). He is the fourth player to earn All-America honors in three straight years in the last decade, joining California's Xavier Nady (1998-2000), Southern's Rickie Weeks (2001-03) and Drew.

The other repeat members of the team are Louisville third baseman Chris Dominguez and the Arizona State tandem of Leake and Kipnis, all of whom landed on the first team. The Sun Devils are the only team to place multiple players on the first team, and they tie Florida State with the most All-Americans overall (three).

Fourteen conferences and the independent ranks are represented on the three All-America teams, and 12 conferences landed multiple players on the teams, led by the Atlantic Coast Conference with 11 players. The next closest were the Big Ten and Big East conferences with four All-Americans apiece, followed by the Southeastern, Big 12, Pacific-10, Big West and Sun Belt conferences with three apiece. In another sign of the growing parity in college baseball, the ACC, SEC and Big 12 combined to produce 17 All-Americans, a year after those three leagues placed 24 players on the three teams.

The staff of Baseball America selects the All-America teams after the round of super regional play. For more information on Baseball America magazine, visit www.baseballamerica.com